Health professionals face the challenge of vaccination which opens up to 5-11 year olds

Mélanie Faure, with Lionel Gougelot
10:54 a.m., December 15, 2021

From this Wednesday, children aged 5 to 11 with fragile health can be vaccinated against the coronavirus. A new campaign, among the youngest, which has prompted health professionals to take certain measures. And as the Christmas holidays approach, all means are good to reassure children. Report in the North. REPORTAGE

New step in vaccination in France. As of today, children aged 5 to 11 with fragile health can be vaccinated. They are 360,000 concerned. And if the centers are already facing a surge of reservations upon the announcement of the recall of the third dose by the government, many having reopened their doors, they have put everything in place to best accommodate these new patients.

In Douai, in the North, the vaccinodrome was put on Christmas colors to try to alleviate children’s anxiety. “We are going to install four boxes and there will always be a doctor,” Saliha Grévin, head of the Douai vaccinodrome, told Europe 1. “We are in a restricted area, doctor / nurse and pediatrician. The child must be safe. Yesterday afternoon, we vaccinated 1300 people, it was tense.”

An atmosphere that Saliha Grévin rejects for the youngest. “These are situations from which we want to extract children,” she argues.

Father Christmas with young patients

In this Vaccinodrome de Valenciennes, it is with Christmas music that children are welcomed. And when the vaccine is administered, another surprise awaits them. “We have a nurse specially dedicated to children,” explains a nurse who receives children from Valenciennes. “She will take the time it takes to reassure them. When the children have been vaccinated, they can wait here or with Santa Claus for the compulsory 15 minutes.”